Uncertainty around Canberra Raiders Cup teams following coronavirus pandemic

Canberra Region Rugby League general manager Mark Vergano says clubs in all sports across Australia have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, which means some teams might not be able to compete in an abridged 2020 season.

Vergano will work with the ACT government to allow Canberra clubs to return to contact from July 1 following the NSW government's announcement senior and junior community sport could recommence on that date.

No date has yet been set for Canberra.

The announcement came too late for some competitions, with group 10 rugby league - based around Bathurst - announcing most of their competitions wouldn't go ahead on Tuesday.

Vergano said they were looking at a 13-14-week season starting on July 18, but they couldn't do a draw until they'd finalised the teams.

MORE CANBERRA SPORT

He felt that timeframe meant there wouldn't be too much crossover with cricket because they didn't need to use many grounds for finals.

"It depends a little bit on how many teams suit up and that will give us a better indication of how we attack the draws," he said.

"We've probably got in reality about a 13-14 week window to operate in.

"Ideally from our perspective we'd like to finish all our various competitions before the NRL grand final, which is kind of traditional, which at the moment is October 25 ... we want everything wrapped up before that.

"Clubs all around Australia in all sports are grappling with similar issues about viability and sustainability, workloads on volunteers and then how many players are willing to play in a shortened comp and at this time of year."

The NSW announcement complicates things, because the Canberra Raiders Cup has five teams based in the ACT and four in NSW.

Vergano said they would work with Chief Minister Andrew Barr's government to ensure they could meet their July 18 start date.

"The other one we need to work with the ACT government on is what a return-to-contact date might look like and ideally it would be great to have them coinciding on July 1, which would be ideal," he said.